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| Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) |
Photo courtesy: chicagonow.com
Nelson
Mandela, South Africa’s former first-democratically-elected President, fighter
for freedom, and anti-apartheid leader, died on the night of December 5 in
Johannesburg after a long illness from lung infection. He was 95 years old.
He will
receive a state funeral on December 15
after a week of national mourning. He will be buried at Qunu, his ancestral
village in the Eastern Cape.
After 27
years of his imprisonment under the white-only apartheid (in South Africa, a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on the basis of race) regimes, he gained freedom in
19 and after a long negotiation the
apartheid was ended and environment was created for the first democratic election.
In 1994, he
was elected the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. He was
president for one term that ended in 1999. Due to his powerful influence there
was a reconciliation between the blacks and whites.
Tributes from World Leaders
Upon his
death, world leaders paid tribute to him in large numbers.
According to
the Sky News, U.S. President Barack Obama said: “Today he [Nelson Mandela] has
gone home and we have lost one of the most influential, courageous and
profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time on this Earth…He no
longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages.”
Britain’s
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “A great light has gone out in the world.
Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time: a legend in life and now in
death – a true global hero.”
South
African President Jacob Zuma said: “Our nation has lost its greatest son.”
South
Africa’s last white president F.W. de Klerk, who shared Nobel Peace Prize with
Nelson Mandela in 1993, said: “[Mandela] was a great unifier…This emphasis on
reconciliation was his greatest legacy.”
South Africa’s
Anglican archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu said, “He was a unifier from the
moment he walked out of prison.”
Canada’s
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said: ““Nelson Mandela’s enduring legacy
for his country, and the world, is the example he set through his own ‘long
walk to freedom.’ With grace and humility, he modelled how peoples can
transform their own times and in doing so, their own lives.”
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said: “History will
remember Nelson Mandela as a champion of human dignity and freedom, for peace
and reconciliation.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “Nelson Mandela
showed what is possible for our world and within each one of us if we believe,
dream and work together for justice and humanity.”
According to the News.va, Pope Francis in a telegram sent
his condolence to President Jacob Zuma and wrote: “I ask the Lord to console
and strengthen all who mourn his loss. Paying tribute to the steadfast
commitment shown Nelson Mandela in promoting the human dignity of all the
nation’s citizens and in forging a new South Africa built on the firm
foundations of non-violence, reconciliation and truth, I pray that the late
President’s example will inspire generations of South Africans to put justice
and the common good at the forefront of their political aspirations.”
Nelson Mandela and East Pakistan
(Bangladesh) Connection
Especially
before 1972, Nelson Mandela’s struggle for freedom and long imprisonment struck
a chord with a section of the students of the University of Dhaka and
politicians in East Pakistan (later called Bangladesh). I still remember how
some students demonstrated against the South African apartheid and demanded
release of Nelson Mandela. There were posters of Mandela in different sections
of the city, too. East Pakistani politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and some
others, who always spoke for the rights and self-governing of the East
Pakistanis, were imprisoned for long period of time, too, by the West Pakistani
ruling elite, mostly influenced by the military leaders.
The Appeal of Nelson Mandela Will Always
Last
As long as there
will be discrimination, injustice, and enslavement in societies around the world,
the example and lesson of Nelson Mandela will be present there. His appeal will
always be there.
Resources on Nelson Mandela
- Nelson Mandela's Death
- Nelson Mandela
- Nelson Mandela Biography
- Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
- List of Awards and Honours Upon Nelson Mandela
- Quotations of Nelson Mandela
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